The Rapu-Rapu mine, previously owned and managed by Lafayette Mining Limited of Australia, was formally sold to its new owners on 21 April 2008. The new owners:
KORES & LG International Corporation (Philco) 70%
Malaysia Smelting Corporation 30%
LG International Corp and KORES previously held a 15.6% and 10.4% stake respectively. The South Korean consortium brought a 44% stake from Lafayette. They are now the largest shareholders with a 70% stake, and with management control.
Malaysia Smelting Corp, which supplies about 18% of the world's tin, now owns the remaining 30%.
Business grapevine was filled with speculations as to how low the bargain price for the Lafayette shell dipped to have persuaded the Koreans and Malaysians to take it. So much for Lafayette's much-publicized corporate stability - and the government's first flagship mining project.
Will the new owners and the present administration once again resort to clandestine operations, deceptions and plain railroading of the process of acquiring the necessary permits and requirements before the new owners may operate their newly-acquired mine? Or do they really think we don't know they still need to secure new permits and submit the necessary requirements?
The next stage for the anti-mining advocacy in Rapu-Rapu is set. And, by God's grace, we are up to the challenge.
Save Rapu-Rapu. Save our future.
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